Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes $1.14 Million Position in Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 5,624 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,135,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Waste Management in the 4th quarter valued at $1,009,726,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Waste Management in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,611,000. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Waste Management by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 6,272,009 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,265,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,151,237 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Waste Management by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,300,278 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,526,823,000 after purchasing an additional 538,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Waste Management by 780.8% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 560,600 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $113,123,000 after purchasing an additional 496,952 shares during the period. 80.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WM. Raymond James increased their target price on Waste Management from $235.00 to $237.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Waste Management from $255.00 to $238.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Waste Management from $227.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Waste Management from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Waste Management in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Waste Management presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $237.76.

Waste Management Price Performance

NYSE:WM opened at $229.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $92.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.66. Waste Management, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.59 and a 12-month high of $239.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $218.64.

Waste Management (NYSE:WM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The business services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.09). Waste Management had a return on equity of 37.93% and a net margin of 12.45%. Research analysts expect that Waste Management, Inc. will post 7.7 EPS for the current year.

Waste Management Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.825 dividend. This is a boost from Waste Management’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.44%. Waste Management’s payout ratio is 48.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Donald J. Smith sold 191 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.22, for a total transaction of $42,062.02. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,349,728.38. The trade was a 3.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO John A. Carroll sold 1,251 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.92, for a total value of $282,625.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 8,420 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,246.40. This trade represents a 12.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,577 shares of company stock valued at $21,662,464 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Waste Management

Waste Management, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of environmental solutions to residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services, including picking up and transporting waste and recyclable materials from where it was generated to a transfer station, material recovery facility (MRF), or disposal site; and owns and operates transfer stations, as well as owns, develops, and operates landfill facilities that produce landfill gas used as renewable natural gas for generating electricity.